As the Bird Flies
by DelphiByProxy
Summary: Taking place shortly after Devil's Eyes, meant to be both a bit of a re-imagining and a bit darker than the show while not erasing the shows plots and continuity.  Mostly.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: This exists solely because I was trying to actually write an original story, but for some reason could not get Birds of Prey out of my head during my writing. I just kept on thinking about the character's, specifically the Birds, and what would have made a second season awesome. And how underused Barbara was. So this is what came of it. There will probably be a second part, because I already have it in my head. And it will probably be a lot darker than the show ever was.

It also might share a bit more in common with the comics, specifically the adding of characters to Gotham City. So it's of mix of both the show and the comics. Enjoy.

As the Bird Flies, part 1  
>Barbara Gordon was cold and frustrated, neither could be helped at the<br>moment. She was cold because there was a giant hole in her Clocktower where  
>the face had been before she and her ward had crashed through it. She was<br>frustrated because even though she and her team had won the battle she knew  
>her problems were far from over.<p>

She sighed deeply as she surveyed the once pristine lair that now lay in  
>disarray. They couldn't stay here at the moment. While the city itself was<br>not a problem, the riots had extended the damage to property far beyond her  
>tower and because the building was owned by Wayne Enterprises the city would<br>in no way be involved in the repairs.

Barbara sat facing the screen of one of her many computers and her hands  
>expertly utilized the keyboard as she forced her way into Arkham Asylum's<br>secure server and from there to their security feeds. Dr. Harleen Quinzel  
>was currently residing in cell 143F, one of the many cells used to house<br>recently acquired inmates. According to her sources and the video feed  
>itself the doctor had been tight lipped since her arrival to hospital.<br>Barbara had no idea whether she would stay that way, but never the less,  
>even if she didn't talk to the police or the doctors Barbara knew the woman<br>was intelligent enough to get messages out of the asylum. As a result at  
>any moment scores of the criminal element could easily find them. Or the<br>police. She'd want vengeance. Barbara was certain of that.

The phone on a nearby desk began ringing, forcing Barbara's attention  
>elsewhere. She stared at the phone as it rang, making no effort to answer<br>it. She didn't quite feel in the mood for chatting and anyone currently  
>important had other means to contact her. After the eighth ring voicemail<br>picked up, and Barbara heard her own voice requesting a message and a long  
>beep. She assumed it would be a message from the Principal from the High<br>School, either needing a teacher for some class, or perhaps calling to  
>inform her of the damage to the school. She was wrong.<p>

"Barbara," a man's voice, deep and concerned. "It's Dick." Barbara rolled  
>her eyes...she knew that and he knew that she knew. "I saw the news and was<br>calling to make sure you're okay." She scoffed, she wasn't but he had no  
>way to know that. "I'm coming into the city in a few days I thought maybe<br>we could have dinner...let me know, okay?" Another beep signified the end  
>of the message.<p>

Yeah, that's what she'd do. She'd go out bang her ex boyfriend to try to  
>forget about her dead one. She bit her lip, unintentionally recalling the<br>discovery of his body on the floor of her bedroom. Limbs broken from being  
>dragged carelessly. Deep breaths forced her to keep her composure.<p>

Then a spark went off somewhere in her brain as an idea began to form. She  
>moved her chair towards the phone and picked it up, dialling a number<br>memorized years ago and waited. He answered on the third ring.

"Alfred, I need you to come over," she said quickly and he responded. "Yes,  
>I'm aware it's late, we've always been a fly by night operation." A few<br>words were said on the butler's end of the line. And then he hung up  
>without saying any parting words. Barbara couldn't fault him for that; most<br>people didn't enjoy 2:30 am phone calls from obsessive redheads. She hung  
>up the phone and offered a glance around the tower again. She didn't have a<br>lot of time.

An hour and a half later, with the help from her former mentor's loyal  
>butler she was there. A place she had never thought she'd be in again.<br>Though, desperate times did cause for desperate measures. Helena wouldn't  
>be happy, but they would all be safer. At least for the time being.<p>

Alfred had agreed to wait at the Clocktower, in order to bring Dinah and  
>Helena back to the manor. It served Barbara's interest well. She wanted to<br>be the first to enter. Alone. She had no doubt that Alfred was well aware  
>of this, which if perhaps why he agreed to go collect the others. In the<br>main study she couldn't help but notice that the Manor was still as spotless  
>as it had been the day Bruce had left. Nothing had changed in the least.<br>And Barbara wondered briefly whether there had been any changes to the main  
>areas of the house since the night Martha and Thomas Wayne were murdered.<p>

She moved herself into a position near the grandfather clock and had to  
>struggle to move the hands of the clock to the designated place, 8:15. The<br>hands sunk into the face as the clock itself as the huge piece moved itself  
>to the side, allowing the former Batgirl entrance. She rolled herself into<br>the secret passage stopping after the clock had retaken its place.

Stairs, she had forgotten about that. She sighed again for what seemed to  
>her to be the thousandth time that night and was getting ready to exit the<br>passage the way she came when the lights above her activated due to her  
>presence.<p>

The passage had been widened since her last visit to the house...the stairs  
>were there, however next to them was a ramp. Steep but still navigable.<br>She chose the ramp and for the first time during the night she smiled.

The trip took less time than it would have had she been using her legs and not a motorized wheel chair, an upside she hadn't really thought of before. As she reached the end of the ramp the lights in the cave activated one after another, starting with the display case against the room where Barbara's eyes automatically wandered.

A memorial of sorts for them...for the service they had provided the city for a generation. Costume's on mannequins, sewn and patched back together to create a lasting icon. Something tangible...to prove that they existed. Even if no one knew about it. Her eyes darted from one case to another, containing various incarnations of Batman's and Robin's costume and she paused briefly to look at a case displaying her first costume and cowl. When she forced her attention away she realized that it was not just ramp. Someone had actually made the cave entirely wheel chair accessible.

"Bruce," she said softly to herself. It was certainly possibly that it was Dick, Alfred or Tim that made the changes. But her money was on Bruce. The others would have told her, but Bruce...always cared a lot more than he would ever let anyone know.

She made her way to the center of the room to the computer. The keyboard was void of dust which led to the idea that Alfred still kept the cave in working order...whether as a memorial, or a contingency she had no way of knowing.

The Batcomputer was just as fast as ever and upon activation took less then thirty seconds to completely boot up. Barbara got into work mode almost immediately and began rerouting her satellite and the entirety of her Clocktower systems to the cave when the sound of the door in the distance told her that she was no longer alone in the Batcave. For a fleeting second she thought it might have been Bruce but instead the voice of his daughter rang out in the silence of the cave.

"Barbara!"

Moments later Helena Kyle appeared in what her generation considered the garb of a vigilante. She looked less than pleased, which Barbara determined was due to the fact that she had left the Clocktower and moved their operation to her father's lair without so much of a conversation.

"Look, Helena, I know you don't like the idea of him, but this isn't a permanent solution. It'll be just until-," she stopped midsentence upon noticing the look on her face. "What's wrong?"

Helena moved over to the computer Barbara currently sat in front of. "It's Dinah."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes: So, I've finished another chapter. I have the next few already planned. I've included some sciencey stuff in this chapter, that if incorrect is totally my bad. I've also made an attempt at including some humour. Eventually we'll be seeing some other characters...promise.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Birds of Prey, DC Comics and the WB do. I should mention...if I did own Birds of Prey, it would have been so awesome and never cancelled...because I rock.

It took ten minutes for Helena and Barbara to talk through a plan of action,  
>ten minutes that Helena thought was a waste of time but Barbara refused to<br>let her leave without taking a minute to think things through. After the  
>Huntress left the cave Barbara placed her head in her hands and stifled a<br>sob. Her emotions only broke through for a moment, after which she lifted  
>her head and took the elastic band on her wrist to wrap up her fiery hair.<br>Straightening her glasses she approached the computer and was immediately  
>thankful that she had moved their operation to the Batcave. It might not<br>have home, but it's computers were top of the line thanks to some of  
>Batman's more prominent friends.<p>

It took Barbara only seconds to load up various maps of the city as well as  
>all information that Dinah's comm-link had sent back before it completely<br>vanished from the grid. The former librarian cursed inwardly, horrified that she allowed her moving plans and self pitying to halt her from checking in on her newest field operative. She didn't forget to check in on Dinah, Barbara never forgot anything. She just didn't...she had assumed that Dinah would be able to take care of herself on what should have been a routine patrol.

"Huntress, its Oracle. What's your location," asked Barbara into the microphone she had just placed on her face. Constant contact. She wouldn't make that mistake again.

"On 49th and Dixon, just passing the Aparo Park and heading into Old Gotham," came the reply of the Huntress. "Why did you make me take this car."

Barbara sighed; even in a crisis Helena had a way of being difficult.

"At least it's not the Batmobile," whose speed would have been useful, but Oracle knew which lines not to cross. "And because Dinah left the Clocktower and headed east. Everything seemed to be going fine, she didn't attempt contact and she only paused for periods of five or so minutes. At one twenty two, she stopped moving in Cathedral Square for fourteen minutes and then the signal dropped altogether."

"Cathedral Square...that's all the away across town..."

"Hence the car, Huntress," said Barbara. "Tell me when you get there."

"Copy."

The silence gave Barbara time to review some of her ideas. Such as reviewing the video footage of Arkham Asylum. No one from the Gotham Police Department had arrived to speak with her, Barbara had a feeling that she could thank Jesse Reese for that. The Arkham guards had also neglected conversation, merely standing outside the door. The doctor herself while not asleep was not entirely awake, apparently drifting somewhere in the middle.

It was possible that the woman would have a contingency plan in case she went missing, something planned at the last minute...It took her only seconds to find the Detective's mobile number and have the computer dial.

He answered on the last ring sounding groggy and not at all his best. He'd have to do.

"Detective Reese, its Oracle."

"You do realize that it's four in the morning."

Barbara rolled her eyes, "Why does everyone seem so interested in the time and wondering whether I know what time it is. I need you to get to Harley's office."

"I...I could get a warrant," responded the Detective in a subdued tone, as if he knew he wouldn't be getting off that easily.

Barbara took a second of deep breathing. She wouldn't lose her cool like Helena did. Her father was a cop, and she trained with Batman. She knew that for the sake of justice they had to abide by the laws that often times held no ground for vigilantes. Now however was not that time.

"Dinah has gone missing Detective. We haven't seen or heard from her in hours... So I need you to get to Dr. Quinzel's office and search for a paper trail while Huntress and I try to locate her."

It seemed to Barbara that Jesse Reese had been expecting something less dire because she heard him let of a string of overly familiar curse words.

"I'll contact you when you get there," Barbara ended the call. She didn't have time for niceties.

Barbara went back to work, multitasking like only few people have ever learned to do. Through expert use of the Batcomputer she was able to fashion a list of the Joker's previous hideouts, and crossing off the ones that would be unlikely for Harley to have known about. Meanwhile she began reviewing recent gang activity in the area surrounding Cathedral Square. What she discovered chilled her far more.

"Oracle, do you copy?" Helena's voiced trailed from the computers speaker filling the room.

"I copy Huntress, what's your status?" Barbara forced herself to a voice of determined calm, one she knew would play off well being that Helena wasn't always the most observant when it came to people's vocal inflections. It also helped that the conversation was through the comm-link and not face to face.

"I'm here, but the place is pretty deserted, not a lot to go on," Huntress sounded agitated. As if Barbara was to blame for the lack of the clues, but Barbara had planned for that.

"Not yet. Grab the goggles from the glove compartment."

The former Batgirl briefly contemplated on how their job would be much easier if Helena would consent to wearing a cowl out on patrol. However over time Barbara had grown accustomed to the young woman's insolence and usually had plans in place for them.

The goggles for example, were cutting edge technology developed by Wayne Enterprises and advanced further by Barbara's own abilities. A series of expensive lenses capable of seeing in infrared, ultra violet and night vision, as well as limited x-raying abilities. They would fit over the eyes. Whatever was seen through the lenses of the goggles would be filmed in high definition and sent to Barbara, so she could view it in real time as well as have it saved for later needs.

She backed up from the computer station as she activated a 3D field in which to see what Helena saw. She saw nothing but the graphed field of green.

"Huntress? Put on the goggles."

"I did," came the vigilante's sullen reply.

"Helena...Turn on the goggles," Barbara said in a voice of impatience.

She waited for a moment and apparently Helena figured out what to do, because after a moment the images from the goggles began feeding into the Batcomputer and Barbara was at the scene of the possible crime.

"Excellent, let's start with a inward spiral search pattern," said Barbara briskly.

As Huntress began the search for evidence that she couldn't see Barbara, aided by the video from the goggles processed the forensic evidence that Helena wasn't trained to gather. Barbara with help from the computers sorted through impressions such as fingerprints and footwear, none of which seemed to be useful in such a widely used public place. In fact nothing useful at all happened until Barbara began processing bodily fluids and hair.

Despite the fact that there was more urine and semen than Barbara knew what to do with. There was also enough deoxyribonucleic acid to supply the West Mercy Hospital's blood bank. She instead altered the system to only find forensic genetic profiling relating to one Dinah Lance.

While the scene didn't light up like the New Gotham Square Christmas Tree it did pinpoint some of DNA that without a doubt belonged to Dinah.

"She was here," said Barbara.

"You're sure?"

"It's an imperfect science, and all the bodily fluids from others make it difficult to be exact. But I'm sure without a doubt that she was attacked here. I see hair as well. I need to do some research, continue the search and follow up with a standard grid pattern search. Don't forget the walls, or cars. Then get back to the cave."

"Got it."

"And Helena...be careful," Barbara's voice broke only slightly, but it was enough for Helena to notice.

"Don't worry Oracle...we're going to get her back. Huntress out."

Barbara turned the field off and returned to her place directly in front of the computer. According to her global positioning system located in the batring Detective Reese was still a few blocks from the office.

She would still have the Detective search the office, but she doubted he would find anything. She doubted that Quinzel was even responsible for Dinah's disappearance. But she'd have him look anyways. They needed to be sure. And at this point someone in the doctor's employ having kidnapped Dinah was much more desirable than the other option.

Barbara heaved a huge sigh. The other option. The events Barbara should have known about. Crimes they should have been stopping and people they should have been saving. According to news reports, for the past week woman have been going missing from around Cathedral Square in numbers, though the New Gotham Police Department have said were relatively normal were starting to jump in an alarming rate. All the missing were blonde in their late teens or early twenties. Three victims had turned up deceased near Miller Harbor, their remains charred and with large amounts of their blood having been drained pre-death according to Gotham's leading pathologist.

The police had no suspects for this ongoing investigation. Barbara swore to herself that she would accomplish more than them. She pulled her cellular phone from her the pocket of the jacket she had yet to take off. It was early; most people wouldn't be up and wouldn't be pleased by a phone call. James Gordon wasn't most people. She dialed the number from memory, not bothering to look through her contacts and waited as it rang.


	3. Chapter 3

Jim Gordon answered his phone on the third ring and sounded quite alert. Barbara wasn't surprised, every morning since she first moved to the city James Gordon had always woke early to take a walk across the city. His personal attempt to see the city as the sun rose, covering the building in dawn light…before the sin gripped it.

While alert he did seem taken aback to hear his daughter's voice on the line, while they kept in regular contact, it wasn't often that she called him this early. And Jim Gordon was far too clever to fall for Barbara's excuse of 'just calling to say hello'. No one called at 4:30 in the morning to just say hello. None the less he played his part in the act the two of them had come close to perfecting over the years. He asked no questions regarding the true nature of the call and Barbara eased into her questions under the guise of simple curiosity. He knew it was impossible that Barbara would have been up to the acts she had begun as a teenager however he never doubted for a second she would slide into despair and remain a simple librarian or teacher. That was perhaps his fault…he instilled the belief of justice in his adopted daughter. He cared to damn much about Gotham and blamed himself for shaping Barbara's value system.

They spoke for fifteen minutes; James providing the same facts regarding the investigation that Barbara had already uncovered using the computer as well as admitted that the situation was a bit more dire that the department was willing to accept. The truth being that while some of the missing happened to be high school or college girls, the majority of them were drug addicts, prostitutes and the general nameless and that while he was desperate to solve the case he didn't have the manpower or the honest cops to make it happen as soon as he would like.

"There's something weird about the case," he said abruptly in his usual gruff voice.

"Weird? What do you mean," asked Barbara tentatively.

That's when the conversation finally worked to Oracle's favour, with James divulging the word on the street that the true nature of the case was more super than natural than he was expecting. Nothing metahuman like up in Metropolis but rumours that an occultist known as Brother Night was a key player in the case. Something similar had happened in San Francisco a few years ago except with grade schoolers. A patrolman transferred California informed Jim on some of the more grim aspects of that case; the things that didn't make the report back then because they simply made no sense.

"Thanks Dad…I was just curious about it, I hope I didn't keep you too long from your walk."

He assured her that the street would still be there and that if anything he would merely get to miss Mickey from the newsstand delaying him about thirty minutes,

"I wish there was something I could do to help," said Barbara casually.

"I know, sweetie, the best thing for you to do is to let us worry about it. You have enough worry about as it," he acted his part out from memory now. She always wanted to help and never could. James always told her to just worry about being safe. A family built on well intention lies. "You know, I heard from a friend that Dick Grayson is headed back from Bludhaven in a few days, do you two plan-"

Barbara cut him off insisting she needed to get ready for work herself. They planned a dinner date for the next week and said their farewells before disconnecting. The conversation proved very useful, and she began to search for information regarding the new player now known as Brother Night while also managing to fume that her father knew about Dick's arrival. A friend? She scoffed. Bruce was way off somewhere. No friend had told her father. If anything Dick had called him himself just to force her into a date. Which until last night she would have found charming and delightful but at the moment just seemed petty to her.

Through the Batcomputer Barbara was able to find out a three things about Brother Night. First that his real name was Eldon Peck, second, he seemed to actually have some sort of mystical based powers and third that Batman had never faced him so the file on him was pretty much useless.

"Damn," she said to herself. She realized that Detective Reese had been at Harley's former office for a about ten minutes, she called him and they spoke as he searched the office, finding nothing, which of course Barbara already knew would be the case. She brought up the subject of the missing girls and of Brother Night and the Detective had almost no information regarding the case. It wasn't his case after all.

"Would you like me to ask around?"

"No, I've already gotten all the information I think the police have to offer, I was just touching base."

"So I really don't need to be breaking and entering right now?"

Barbara bit her lip, "No, I don't think so. Thank you for your assistance. I'll contact you if anything more comes up."

She ended the call at the exact moment a car pulled into the parking garage area of the cave and after a moment Helena vacated the vehicle and strode over to where Barbara sat. "Who is that freak?"

The term fit, Barbara supposed, Brother Night was very pale with long hair that was equally black and gray and his eyes seemed to be too large for his otherwise very small head.

"Bad guy," Barbara supplied as she continued to navigate the computer, attempting to pull information from the information grid.

"Our bad guy?" Helena asked impatiently.

"It would appear so, I'm working on it, how was the scene?"

"I think they fled by car. Obviously I couldn't pursue since it had been about four hours. We need to do something."

Barbara nodded grimly. "Yes, and the quicker the better. Based on the information from the police's missing person reports and the pathologist's time of death for the found girls we have some time…but I think it would be best if we can wrap this up tonight."

Helena just gave Barbara a look of worry for her seemingly lack of concern.

"Look, Barbara, it's not your fault."

"It is in part. I should have checked in. But there's time for blame latter. Right now….I need to…separate myself from my emotions…I need to work this. You need to get some rest. Alfred should be up, he can show you to a guest bedroom…Or you know…just walk around, there is about a million of them."

The two fell silent. After a brief period Huntress placed what she hoped was a reassuring hand on Barbara's shoulder and squeezed before heading for the staircase that would lead her out of the cave and into the mansion.

In the absence of her friend Barbara began to form plans and back up plans. None of which would be useful at all unless she could figure out where Dinah was being held. Fortunately for Barbara she had the world's best computer at her fingertips…she would figure it out.

It was about a little after nine am and the sun had risen into a surprisingly glorious morning free of clouds of rain that too often seemed to cover the city. Barbara had no way of knowing this however, because she hadn't moved from her place at the computer terminal for over six hours. She had completely absorbed herself into her work and the outside world matter not at all to her.

She didn't hear Alfred descend into Cave or next to her until he sat a plate of eggs, toast and juice on a collapsible tray next to the hacker. She barely glanced at the food before turning back to the screens.

"Thanks Alfred, but I'm not hungry."

"I assumed as much, Miss Barbara, but I'm afraid I must insist. Miss Helena is resting as to be in shape tonight. And while I don't imagine you intend on taking a nap, you do need to keep your strength up as well. I assure you, the information you seek will be there after your breakfast," said the butler.

She glanced at Alfred and his expression while showing concern and wasn't severe looking at all she knew by his tone of voice that her repeating herself wasn't really an option. She moved back from the screens and focused her attention to the food her had brought her. She brain maintained that she was no hungry, but her stomach insisted otherwise now that she had actually seen the food. She tentatively picked up a piece of toast and dipped it in the eggs before taking a small bite from it. After finishing the first piece she took a sip from the orange juice.

"I can't help but blame myself Alfred. Dinah was too young for this work…too irresponsible."

Alfred nodded, as though he agreed. "Indeed. That's precisely what Master Bruce said of you when you first started your journey. I seem to remember you leaping from the top of Wayne Enterprises with a normal jump line with absolutely no give. You nearly died, as I remember."

"That's different. Bruce was there to save. Batman was everywhere. Huntress doesn't have the luxury of always being around to save her at every turn. And neither do I."

"If that had been the case with you would have stayed a librarian, Miss Barbara?"

Sometimes Barbara thought that Alfred might actually be the smartest member of the group. Just as sometimes Alfred though that Barbara was in actuality the strongest person he had encountered in his Master's line of work.

"What if this doesn't turn out in our favour? What if she's already dead? Or emotionally destroyed…Or crippled?"

"The life of a hero is always balanced with triumph and tragedy Miss Barbara, as you should know better than anyone. It's a chance all of you take every day. You do it still, even though you don't realize it. But you've had your breakfast and should get back to work. I too, I'm afraid, the silver doesn't polish itself."

Alfred offered Barbara a reassuring smile before he picked up empty plate and glass and left Barbara with her thoughts. She turned to her screens and rubbed her temple to subdue the headache threatening to burst forward as she processed millions of ideas. A spark went off, lining up with other thoughts she had already considered and there it was: a perfectly decent plan. She couldn't help but smile widely at her own genius.

" Way to go, Batgirl," she said to the empty cave.


	4. Chapter 4

As the Bird Flies

Chapter 4

To Barbara, it seemed that the night couldn't fall fast enough. After formulating her plan in its entirety, it took another two hours, stretching her contacts to the limit to acquire all the help needed for their next move. Eventually, a friend managed to make some alterations to her schedule and agreed to be in New Gotham by sunset. Convinced that she finally had a handle on the situation she left the cave to relax until dark.

She had a small lunch with Alfred, who insisted that she take a shower and get a least a small nap. Barbara relented, insisting that Alfred has fresh coffee made for when she woke up. He agreed and Barbara left to shower and fall asleep for a few hours in Bruce's study, as it was much more convenient than her trying to climb the stairs to find a guest room. It was only the main floor of the manor and the cave that had been adjusted for her.

She didn't sleep well, but she slept none the less. At seven that evening however, she was back in the cave, showered and cleaned and ready for a long night. She was ready to finish this. There was something about having to two Crays further advanced by Bruce's own genius to make her feel more in control of the horrible situation.

She spent the next few hours reviewing the information she had already went over several times just trying to figure everything out. In Barbara's mind there was no doubt that the cause of death was exsanguination due to deep gashes to the arteries, the Medical Examiner agreed. Barbara didn't have an answer as to why or how the bodies were burnt after their death, there were no chemical residue, and she couldn't figure out why you would need to burn a body just to throw it in the river. What really got her was the fact that the victims all had puncture wounds on their back of the neck; the Medical Examiner didn't have an answer for that. Barbara answered for him; stun gun.

By eight o'clock Barbara had hacked into various cameras from Cathedral Square and now had live feeds streaming to numerous screens and Barbara thanked Gotham for going along with the evolution of the real time traffic control cameras. Huntress had left the cave an hour beforehand, the GPS in her commlink showing her stationary in the centre of the Square. The transceiver was at 98% across the board including GPS, communications, heart rate and blood pressure. It was the best Barbara could hope for. Now all that was left was the waiting.

"I hate waiting," said Barbara to herself. For the first time in a long while she found herself wishing it was her out in the field, the waiting would be much more interesting. She missed stakeouts.

"Barbara…when is my back up getting here,' asked Huntress over comms. 'There's nothing to do on this roof.'

Barbara glanced at the time.

"Her show ends at 8:30 and she's promised me no encores. Sunset is at 8:52 so don't worry."

'But she's coming in from Metropolis…'

"She's a fast traveller, Huntress. Don't worry. I filled her in on the mission so she's already prepared." 

'I'm glad one of is,' responded Helena in an uncertain voice.

Huntress had herself positioned on a rooftop overlooking the square but she herself was hidden from view. After a while it became second nature to blend into the shadows. In addition to having the perfect view of the square, Helena also had a perfect view of the sunset. She was content with that fact.

It was 8:49 and the sky had changed from a robin's egg blue to an enchanting shade of orange, with violet streaks and the sun had almost fallen out of view when her show was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a woman on the roof causing her to leap to her feet ready for a fight.

"Huntress, I presume," said the woman giving the vigilante a small bow and a tip of her top hat.

Huntress for her part was a not confused as it wasn't every day women showed up out of thin air on rooftops wearing fishnet stockings and a top hat, referring to her by name, even in New Gotham.

"I'm Zatanna. Oracle sent me," she explained. "She seemed to think your current mission could use an operative of my talents."

"You know Oracle?" asked Huntress a trace of doubt evident in her voice.

Zatanna gave a smirk of her ruby red lips, "Everyone knows of Oracle. Her reach spreads far beyond assisting Gotham's crime fighters."

The two stood in silence, Huntress glaring at the magician as though trying to size her up but Zatanna casually leaned against a stone grotesque, apparently she was quite at ease.

"You know I grew up in Gotham." said Zatanna in an attempt to strike up a conversation.

Huntress looked surprised at the attempt, "Is that right?"

"Yeah, back in the day. Before the quake. Back when you'd feel terrified walking the streets on your way home – there was never silence. All you'd hear were sirens, shouting or gunshots. And that was all good because if you hear silence you would know something much worse was going to happen."

"There are safer cities." Huntress agreed.

"That's an understatement. But even with the terror of being a Gothamite. There were other nights, when you'd see it in the sky, unwavering. It was like a beacon. And even though the chances of you getting killed were still fairly good you would feel safer. Just knowing that he was on the streets with you would give you the courage to keep on going out. Just knowing he was there."

Helena's expression didn't change as she listened to the tale and she didn't say anything afterwards to suggest that Zatanna's words meant anything. What she did do was reach into the pocket of her duster and remove a small black leather box throwing it to Zatanna who caught it quite easily.

"Oracle prefers it if we're blinged out for our missions," Huntress explained as Zatanna opened the box and removed two metal earrings in the shape of the letter 'Z' and a dark chrome pendant shaped like a pointed witch's hat connected to a metal collar. "Personally, I just think she likes to shop. She has these catalogues that she doesn't think anyone knows about."

"Hmm, shopping is a great way to get your mind off of things," replied Zatanna with a smile as she put on the aforementioned jewellery that were actually advanced communication devices Oracle dispensed to most of her field agents.

"Yeah, I prefer hitting people. It's the best kind of therapy, how about you?"

Zatanna thought about it for a moment.

"You know, honestly, my day job is all I need as a reprieve from all the heroics. Trust me, dealing with trick walls and costumes all day - puts everything in perspective."

As a bartender Helena could relate, nothing made jumping from buildings and stopping nefarious plots seem like the good life than working in the customer service industry mostly dealing with drunken frat boys from Gotham State.

"When Dinah went missing her commset stopped transmitting, so I guess we're just going to have to hope for the best," said Helena with a shrug.

Zatanna gave a nod of her head indicating that she understood. Though she was listening to Huntress her visual attention was on the moon that had risen up in the sun's absence, big and orange.

"Black Canary's daughter," said Zatanna in an awed voice. "What's she like?"

Huntress thought about it, Dinah was sometimes whiney, sometimes a pain and inexperienced when it came to field work and had little to no detective skills.

"She's great…you know, when she's not running off and getting kidnapped."

"Teenagers…what can you do? My little cousin Zach, he-"

"Alright ladies," came Oracle's voice over the radio cutting Zatanna off promptly. "We'll probably be at this most of the night, so I hope everyone had their coffee."

Helena couldn't help but to roll her eyes, as if to say to Zatanna 'She's always like this.'

"Huntress, don't make faces," said Barbara knowledgeably. "Okay, I'll be keeping an eye on things as best I can from here and Huntress it will probably be best for you to maintain radio silence until the second part of this. Too much talking into the transceiver could put an end to this mission before it even really starts. Zatanna I'll be relying on you for communication."

Huntress looked agitated, as though she either didn't like the idea of playing second fiddle to Zatanna or as if she didn't care much for Oracle's plan. Either way she knew that Oracle's plan was **the** plan, the only one they had and the best shot of getting Dinah back alive. Aside from that there was the known fact that Barbara's plans usually worked. Oracle had superior operational planning that Helena just did not possess. This was probably the reason that she didn't adopt 'the Thinker' as her moniker.

The mission, if all went right, would get Huntress to Dinah and face to face with Brother Night. It was Oracle's plan to get Dinah back and shut down Night's operation. It was Huntress' plan to get Dinah back and shatter several of Brother Night's bones before dropping him off at the GCPD. Possibly from a rooftop.

"Alright, Huntress you should get changed."

Helena didn't move, or respond at all to Oracle's suggestion.

"Huntress, I know you love the whole shadowy, leather queen look, but it would be vital if you changed your clothes."

"It's not that, Oracle. I left the clothes in the truck," Helena offered lamely. "I'll go get them…then."

She headed for the edge of the roof preparing to leap into the alley below but Zatanna placed a hand on the vigilante's shoulder stopping her from jumping.

"Don't worry Hunts," said Zatanna casually, "You're about to see a magick trick. Ready?"

"Sure, I was always a sucker for that rabbit out of a hat thing," supplied Huntress with all the enthusiasm she could muster, which wasn't much.

The ebony haired enchantress raised her hands as she intoned in a commanding voice, "ssertnuH semoceb yerp!"

There was a brief and noticeably awkward silence between the two. Helena for her part was a bit underwhelmed by the fact that nothing at all had seemed to happen.

"No offense Z, but I think your magic words are busted."

Zatanna raised an eyebrow questioningly at Huntress, "Z?"

"Hunts," Helena questioned back.

Zatanna gave a shrug of her shoulders, "Touché. But my words are working just find, see for yourself."

Helena glanced down at her own form to find that she no longer appeared to be wearing the leather covered outfit she first wore when leaving the cave that night. She felt the feel of leather on her skin and the restriction of her corseted top, but what she saw was all cotton and florally and suggested that she was something of a modernized distressed damsel. She didn't care for it. She also caught a glimpse of her visage in the reflection of herself she saw in a metal coated generator box next to her and saw that her own bob of raven coloured hair had been replaced with long tresses the colour of straw.

"What, what did you do," asked Huntress in surprise, reaching for her hair. It still felt short, she thought but she also thought she could feel long hair, where she knew long shouldn't be.

"A small glamour, don't worry, it'll fade away when you no longer have need of it," said Zatanna as if she routinely altered the appearance of passing acquaintances.

"Right." responded the Huntress. This current changed in visage wasn't doing to much to lessen her agitation. "What now?"

"You're the bait, Huntress," chimed in Oracle. "Go act baitey."

Huntress rolled her eyes, this was decidedly not her favourite mission, but she none the less drew back into the shadows vanishing from Zatanna's view before becoming visible on the street below.

"How did she do that?"

"Come on, Zatanna, do you think that without magic we're all just walking around not knowing what to do with ourselves," asked Oracle. "Either way keep your eye on her. She's not really in a position to be overly aggressive to anyone right now; she might end up needing help."

"Oracle, it's not my first mission," she responded in an annoyed tone. "I've got this. Zatanna out."

Oracle had been right. It was a plan that took most of the night, with Zatanna and Oracle running surveillance while Huntress walked the streets around Cathedral Square and entered the local bars. She played the role of a girl from Gotham State University who had been dumped by her boyfriend just before the Christmas vacation. Despite the severity of the mission Huntress found that she was enjoying herself. To her drinking glasses of Sprite and pretending to get drunk while flirting with guys and acting far more feminine then she usually got the chance to be,

"You know, Oracle, I think more of our missions should involve me drinking with attractive men picking up the tab," said Helena casually into her transceiver during a brief period alone.

"I'll see what I can do about that," said Oracle from her position at the Batcave. "Now will you stay quiet? I don't want you to blow-"

"Hey Babs," said a deep voice from behind Barbara, cutting her off midsentence and causing her to shout out in surprise directly into her microphone and from their directly into her field agents ears.

"Oracle! Are you alright," questioned Zatanna and Huntress in unison.

Barbara had moved her chair to face the opposite side and was currently staring into the face of a rather handsome, dark haired man. A man who had some of the most intense azure eyes that she had ever seen.

"Yes, I'm fine. It was just," Barbara paused. What exactly was it? "It was just a bat."

"There are actual bats in the Batcave," questioned Zatanna not expecting an answer. "Well, that's gross."

Barbara hit a buttons on the keyboard to mute her voice from Zatanna's and Huntress' ears.

"Dick, what's the matter with you!"

Dick Grayson's face transformed from a schoolboy smirk into a disappointed pout, "That's not how I remember you shouting my name."

"Shut up, Grayson. You're not as funny as you think you are," she said angrily, though the anger was more so because she had actually been snuck up on. It had been awhile since someone had managed to do that.

"I'm not?"

"No. It would be impossible for anyone to be as funny as you think you are." explained Barbara as she turned her chair back to the monitors. Dick moved purposely over to the computer and took a seat in a chair next to Barbara.

"What are you doing here Dick?"

The former Robin pretended to look offended, "What am I doing here? This is my home, woman! This is supposed to be a boys only cave! What are you doing here?"

Barbara stopped typing in mid keystroke and glanced over to Dick whose mouth gave a little twitch of a smile. He was always terrible at acting angry. She had to admit, seeing him made her feel a lot better than she would have liked it to. Also, he looked very good to her even in the wake of the hurricane that was her last relationship. Sure, he was acting childish, but he always did.

"The Clocktower was breached. This seemed like the best place to coordinate a mission. You're here earlier than you said."

"My case wrapped up early." Dick explained.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, but unlike the silence recently experienced between Helena and Zatanna this was the much more comfortable. The history they shared, the things they knew about each other. They didn't always need to use words and Barbara was a bit unnerved by how easy it was for her to just be with him.

"Alfred filled me in on what's been going on." said Dick as he reached out his hand and placed it on top of Barbara's much smaller one, wrapping his fingers up in hers. "Are you alright?"

Suddenly, Barbara became quite aware of a sharp stinging in her eyes that usually lead to crying and a break down into hysterics wasn't really what she had planned for her night. She removed her glasses from her face, setting them in her lap, before tilting her head upwards staring at the stalagmites above her, wondering how long it took each of them to grow while trying to fight down the swelling of emotions begging to rip through her throat. It took her eight Mississippi's of deep breaths to regain her composure after which she replaced her glasses.

"No, Man Wonder, I'm really not. But I'll live. I'll get over it. Just after I save Dinah and shut down Brother Night I'll get to have a nice long cry and a hot bath and maybe I'll get back to work."

She stared at Dick, her expression altering from mild anguish into a steely resolve and Dick understood with perfect clarity as to why he was in love with this woman even when they weren't together.

"Can I watch?" asked Dick after a beat of silence which caused Barbara to smile.

"Yes, you can," she glanced to the monitors in front of her. "And it looks like things are about to get interesting."

Due to the presence of a security camera placed in the parking lot of the Camelot Motel, Oracle had a pretty good, albeit fuzzy, view of Huntress making her way down the street followed by a group of four men.

Oracle briefly wondered what in the world would make people want to hunt down and kill innocent girls. Her brain answered the question rather quick: because they could. They murdered and hurt people because they could do it and because they thought that they could get away with it. As Oracle, just as it was when she was Batgirl, she didn't become a hero for vengeance or to atone for her sins, her interest had always been altruistic. Barbara did what she did to make sure that they didn't get away with it.

In recent months however her mission seemed to have been swept away by all the conflicts in her life. Conflicts with Helena, with Dinah and even with Wade had caused her to not take notice of bigger things. She had spent too much time trying to save herself, trying to better herself. Making attempts at fixing herself. After tonight she intended to get back to her basics. Every night, she would make sure that someone got to see the next day.

"Zatanna?"

'I see them Oracle," responded the sorceress. "They aren't as sneaky as they'd like to think they are."

Barbara had to agree with that but couldn't help but wonder how the group managed to get Dinah. While it was true that she wasn't as seasoned a fighter as Zatanna or Huntress, but they didn't seem to be very covert or deadly just thugs. Of course it was possible that they just didn't care who saw them and if that was the case they'd soon regret that they let Oracle see them She opened a window and began running facial recognition programs of the faces she could see. That Batcomputer came up with an answer in moments, naming two of the men with known associations.

"I don't think this is the same group that captured Dinah," said Oracle to Zatanna.

"What do you mean? Like they're just going to rob Huntress?"

"I doubt it. Cathedral Square isn't really known for its high crime rate. But it is Gotham after all so I guess it is but it's no Crime Alley. As far as I can tell, this group is a recent incarnation of the Burnley Town Massive. Most of them were wiped out a few years ago. They're basically hired thugs." explained Oracle. "Smart of Brother Night not to use his own players."

"Alright, Huntress, give them your typical civilian attempt at escaping, but don't show off. Remember that you're there to get captured."

Dick and Barbara watched it unfold over the camera. The group used a standard box pattern to trap Helena between them and then went immediately for the take down with a series of jabs on her and Huntress took every punch without responded in kind. What she did do was give a well placed kick to the special area of her closest attacker and she couldn't help but smile as he collapsed to the ground in pain.

The leader of the group removed an electroshock weapon from the inside of his jacket, grabbing Helena by the hair before placing the weapon at the base of her neck and letting off the charge. Barbara gasped as she saw Helena visibly shake in pain as her muscles contracted and despite the plan she struggled to remain standing causing the man to give her another dose. Barbara covered her mouth with her hand to stifle the next gasp. It had been the plan, but she hadn't expecting that to happen. As soon as Helena fell to the ground a black van pulled up the road, sliding its doors open and the gang lifted her into the vehicle which promptly took off, leaving the Burnley Town Massive members in the street. Apparently they weren't invited to Brother Night's party.

"Zatanna, follow the van." ordered Oracle in a voice of forced calm.

"Will do." responded the hero.

Barbara checked to make sure that Huntress' transceivers hadn't been burnt out from the electrical charge and was relieved to find that they were still operational, though down to 86%. Could be worse, she thought gingerly s she reviewed other information sent to her.

"It was a standard commercial stun gun, but modified for highly increased voltage," explained Oracle. "Huntress' clothes are insulated to defend against shocks and her metagene also helps, so modifying it would be the only way to take her down with just two five second shocks. It also explains how they captured Dinah so easily."

Dick nodded, "So what's the plan?" He asked as he got to his feet.

"Zatanna will follow and watch, until Huntress needs her help for the final confrontation. You and I get to sit here and hope for the best."

Dick looked outraged. He was not a stand on the sidelines kind of person, he never had been. Perhaps that's why he outgrew being Robin and perhaps that was why he and Barbara could never make it work long term.

"We could do this by ourselves Babs, we can be there in twent-"

"No Dick," said Barbara cutting him off.

He looked quite taken aback by the word. "No?"

"No," she echoed. "Firstly, _I _couldn't be there in twenty minutes. I'm not a field agent anymore. Secondly, this is my team and I chose them for a reason We'll watch, and we'll listen, and I'll coordinate."

Dick looked like he wanted to argue some more but Barbara turned her attention from the monitors and fixed Dick with a hardened expression that caused Dick to retake his seat.

"You know, you reminded me of Batman right there."

"Maybe you bring that out in me Grayson," responded Barbara before shifting her attention back to the mission.

Helena woke up a short while later still in the van. Even with the enhancements on the weapon it wasn't strong enough to keep her down for an extended period. She didn't move to attack, despite the ever growing urge to smash her foot into someone's windpipe solely because she still wanted to find Dinah.

The van stayed on the move for what felt like an hour before finally coming to a stop. During Huntress' time conscious they had made twenty three left turns and eighteen right turns. Due to Gotham's maze like structure she had absolutely no idea where she was. Could have been the Dockyards, the Reservoir or even Coventry, she had no way to know and no way to find out.

"The East End, in case you're wondering," Oracle's voice came in clear and far too loud for Helena's liking after being electrocuted into unconsciousness and being thrown into a van. Helena didn't even want to know how Barbara always seemed to have the answer to unspoken questions.

In what had to be Huntress' least favourite part of the night, including the electrocution, she was grabbed rather unceremoniously by two men, who recklessly dragged her from the van causing her to hit her head on the door. She was quite thankful when a loud deep voice spoke up, "Be careful with her you idiots, she's a person not a coffee table."

Nothing better than a kind thug, Huntress reasoned. She decided then that when she showed these freaks what terror was this man would incur her wrath the least.

"Huntress, Oracle says you're conscious," said Zatanna. "Either way I'm down the street from you. They're using some sort of abandoned church as their hideout. I can't imagine that God is pleased."

Helena was getting quite sick at not talking; this is the last time she played the role of the weak and powerless girl on a mission. Next time Barbara could go hang out in alleys and get shocked and beat up.

Even though her eyes were closed Helena felt the change in temperature upon entering the building, still being carried by two unknown enemies. While it was winter and freezing outside the inside of the building was stifling hot. Her skin did not appreciate such a drastic change.

"Massive found her in the Square and tipped us off. She was alone and more than a bit tipsy," the deep voiced man, her caregiver. "I thought she'd be better off here."

"You thought right," said a voice as smooth as silk that sent shivers down Helena's spine. She knew without seeing that it was Brother Night speaking. "Pretty thing. You lost, pretty little creature."

She felt a slender, long fingered hand caress her cheek and fought the urge to lash out. Helena was in the place she would have her showdown with Night. It just wasn't the right time. 

"Did she carry anything?" asked Brother Night.

"Just some cash. I'm assuming she left her phone and purse at a bar. According to Tyree it looked as if she was attempting to stumble home."

"Or perhaps she was looking for us," said Brother Night in his cold, silky voice, sentence that stopped Helena's breath.

"Like that meta bitch we got upstairs?" said a voice Helena hadn't heard yet. He sounded like a standard Gotham criminal and even Helena could piece together that he was the hired help.

"Joey. Joey. Joey," said Brother Night. "When speaking to me please attempt a civil tongue."

A loud smack told Helena that Joey had been disciplined.

"Alas, no, I was merely suggesting that she is a girl who has lost her way. Been used up and discarded by society so she's looking for someone to end it all for her. She's in luck."

She felt his hand stroke her face again, "Take her to the waiting room you two. Gently. Derrick, I believe you and I have some matters to discuss before she we take care of the teenage crimefighter."

Apparently the waiting room was not designed for comfort. It was a small darkened room that had the horrible smell of moth balls mixed with sandalwood. No light switch on the walls and locked from the outside.

"I think they put me in a closet!" exclaimed Huntress in an outraged tone.

"At least they didn't hurt you," responded Oracle.

"Yeah, and at least we know Dinah's alive for the moment. I can break down the door no problem, but it might be a bit loud. Hold on, I hear something."

"nepO." said a voice from behind the door, which promptly opened itself to reveal Zatanna standing there with a smile plastered on her face.

"Hey Hunts, how's tricks?" she asked casually.

"Oh you know, the usual," said Helena as she stood up from her crotched position on the floor and actually returned the smile. "Okay Oracle, what do you have for us?"

"You guys are at the long abandoned Church of Our Lady Peace; construction was completed in 1734 by Nicholas Gate and his brother Bradley. It was used for ten years before until a fire damaged much of the inside in 1744. At the time neither the city nor the church could afford to repair the damages, so it just stayed."

"Why is it still standing," asked Zatanna. "If it's an eyesore on the outside it's even worse in here."

"It's a historical landmark, one of the first of many buildings Nicholas designed for Gotham. Besides, people tend to protest when you try to demolish a church."

"It's nice when people come together." Huntress offered.

"The structure, not including the bell tower is three floors plus a basement. Unlike many structures, the Sanctuary is on the topmost floor, while the bottom floors were dedicated to offices, classrooms and things of that nature. If I was a villain holed up in an abandoned church and killing girls, I'd use the sanctuary."

They listened patiently as Oracle described the layout of the building, and talked them through on where to go. The first floor was completely void of people, but there were several rooms where it was evident that people were using the former offices for all sorts of activities, sleeping, eating and the like.

The second floor of the church was where things got interesting. A very small group of armed men stood on the lookout at the top of the stairs. This group was decidedly more military than the gangs being used to abduct the women for Brother Night. Instead of stepping up to fight, Huntress and Zatanna clung to the shadows unseen. The group mainly seemed to be concerned with guarding a set of large double doors, and Huntress assumed that behind the doors was where Brother Night and Derrick were discussing their plans.

"I don't much like the idea of sneaking past them," said Huntress giving a pointed look to Zatanna.

Zatanna rolled her eyes, "You know, I usually get paid for this kind of stuff."

Never the less she reached her hands out, "Sdraug ezeerf!"

The men who had been in mid conversation with each other each took Zatanna at her command and stopped in place. This in turn allowed Huntress and the sorceress to walk by without getting shot at.

"Just like that, huh?" asked Huntress as she passed the guard.

"Pretty much," said Zatanna with a grin. "Don't you think we should go after Brother Night?"

Huntress shook her head as the two began to climb the second set of stairs.

"No. First we need to get Dinah out of here. She's more important than catching Night."

Zatanna agreed and nodded her head to confirm that she understood.

They reached the top floor, which as far as Huntress and Zatanna could tell only had one room. A pair of large double doors made of rosewood with Christian inspired engravings was all that separated the two from entering the sanctuary of the church. These doors were locked with thick chains and a heavy lock.

Huntress wasn't sure if she was ready for this. While she wanted nothing more for Dinah to be completely fine, she knew in her heart that that wasn't going to be the case. In fact, if Helena hadn't already heard Brother Night discussing her she would have already believed Dinah to be dead.

"Huntress, are you alright?" asked Zatanna, placing a well manicured hand on the vigilante's shoulder, the concern showed in her face.

"Yeah, let's end this," Huntress said with a lot more conviction than she actually felt.

"Don't worry Huntress, I'm right here," said Oracle over the radio.

Without pausing to think that it might have been easier for Zatanna remove the chain Huntress' fingers wrapped around the steel and pulled as hard as she could several times. While louder than she would have liked it got the job done and the chain broke and Huntress could feel that her hands would be sore the next day, none the less she opened the door and the two entered.

What the entered into however was a matter of debate. The room itself was quite spacious, this was even more apparent due to the removal of the pews that traditionally would have been facing the altar. It was clear that at one point in time the room was marvellous looking, with the same rosewood that was found on the doors supplying the trim and ceiling of the room while the walls themselves seemed to be made of polished limestone with engravings. Its majestic purpose however had obviously been perverted by Brother Night.

The smell of singed wood and metal reached Zatanna's nose which caused her to make a disgusted face. Helena's sense of smell moved past that to the second smell, the sickening sweet smell of rotting flesh, the smell of sweat and blood. That's what hit her first; the burning smell was more of an afterthought.

The room itself was covered with blood splatters that white tarps on the floor had done a decent job of soaking up the fluid. The walls were less fortunate. Helena's eyes gave a sweep of the room resting up on the altar where a huge metal contraption had been resurrected, and from which currently hung the burning body of a young woman whose blood was currently pouring out of her at a slow trickle, most of it already falling on the floor below her. The woman had blonde hair and looked as if she could still be in High School.

"Dinah!" Huntress exclaimed and immediately rushed across the room, Zatanna right behind her, to get to the altar. Upon closer inspection the dead woman wasn't Helena's friend, but the look of terror on her burning face, the last expression she would ever wear, didn't make Helena feel any better.

If Huntress felt sickened that was nothing compared to Zatanna. She had taken on a slightly green complexion as she gazed hard at the corner of the room. "Huntress," she spoke uncertainly.

Without speaking Huntress followed the magician's gaze and found herself staring for a moment. In the corner, not immediately distinguishable from the floor itself was a girl in white, coated from head to toe in crimson. Whether alive or dead was the question on both the heroes minds until the person moved slightly, as if attempting to stand.

"Helena," Huntress gasped as she heard her own name come from the body in a raspy choke and in a matter of seconds was kneeling next to the broken body of Dinah Lance, tears streaming down her face.

"Dinah, oh my god," Huntress repeated several times in shock. She didn't ask whether or not Dinah was alright, she already knew the answer.

Zatanna on the other hand was on comms with Oracle, "She's hurt badly, she's needs medical attention now."

"Copy Zatanna, Nightwing is en route."

Huntress was stroking Dinah's hair however taking in the damage done to her. Her clothes were no where to be seen, she instead was in a white robe. Her wrists were both chained to a pillar; both seemed to be fractured, from an escape attempt or torture she didn't know. Her eyes were puffy and bruised, as was most of her body. So far, it was mostly blunt trauma Huntress observed which was only slightly better than any other trauma: except for the fact that it was blunt trauma that caused the large knot on the back of the young vigilante's head. Huntress felt it a few times and noticed that it was bleeding quite badly.

"Hele-Huntress," said Dinah softly. "I tried to stop him from taking a girl. He wa-"

"Shh, Dinah, it's okay, it's going to be okay. Help is on the way," said Huntress in what she could only hope was a reassuring tone.

"By which point you three lovely young ladies will be long overdue for it," said a voice from the entrance way.

Helena looked up to see Brother Night, his picture didn't make him look nearly as creepy as he was in person, as he stood with his small army of loyal murderers all with guns pointed directly at Huntress and Zatanna.

"You," Helena spat. "What the hell do you think your doing in my town!"

"Calm down, my golden haired friend, I wouldn't want to make my men shoot you up before we get to use you in the ritual."

"Use me? You think you're going to use me?"

Helena rose to her feet, gently setting Dinah back down on the ground, and as she stood the glamour Zatanna had cast on her hours ago melted away to reveal the Huntress in all her fury. She felt her pupils shift as she saw the world differently, and she saw her prey, standing across the room protected by guns that she didn't need.

This was it, this was the end game. She launched herself across the room with the intent to ignore the gunmen and go straight for Brother Night. Apparently gravity had different plans for as Huntress was about to swoop down on her enemy he lifted his hands to reveal to orbs of blue fire that he launched towards Huntress hitting her dead on and sending her crashing to the ground. It didn't burn as bad as she thought it would, it felt like she had been hit with a canon ball but nonetheless got right back to her feet.

"You're tough, girly," said Brother Night as he smiled sickly. "We'll have to tenderize you."

He threw another blast of energy at the vigilante only for them to be blocked by an invisible shield erected by Zatanna. Not for the first time that night Huntress was relieved that Oracle had brought her in on this mission.

"Brother Night," said Zatanna walking up next to the Huntress. "Is that what you call yourself? These parlour tricks of yours are no match for me. You'd best give up while you still have the option."

"I have plenty of avenues to explore, Witch!" said Brother Night with another grin as he sent bolts of energy at the shield, which started to crack under the barrage.

Brother Night looked very cocky, but his henchmen looked unsure as if they wanted to get involved in an altercation now that there was another magic user on the field. They didn't have a choice, Huntress rushed her way through the shield and gracefully did a flip into the air where she landed behind one of the gunners, grabbing him by his shoulders and throwing him into the wall. He connected with the polished limestone with a crunch and he and his weapon fell to the ground.

Huntress didn't like magick, she didn't use magick, as a result, she would let the magician handle the creature with fiery balls projecting out of his hands and take care of his friends. She heard a man give orders to the other soldiers, and with his deep voice and commanding tone she knew this was the man who had ordered her to be handled gently earlier in the evening. He was her next target, and as she had told herself, she would go easy on him.

He seemed to be more efficient in hand to hand combat than the others, as he started throwing punches instead of bullets. Huntress expertly dodged the first two and took a left hook to the side of her face the third time. The fourth time she caught his fist with an escrima technique Barbara had once shown her and with her free hand expertly jabbed at nerve clusters on her bicep and thigh. He collapsed to the ground, feeling pain, but unbloodied. The others wouldn't be so lucky.

As she moved from enemy to enemy she noticed that she was being much more vicious then she would have been had these been ordinary criminals. Her knuckles were red and the skin of them was beginning to bleed, after she handled the fourth man she could no longer tell what blood was hers and what belonged to her prey. She wanted them worse than hurt, she wanted them dead, but she'd have to settle for hospitalized.

Meanwhile Zatanna was going head to head with Brother Night, throwing magically infused elements at each other and destroying what was left of the sanctuary and had actually managed to set fire to the place. Zatanna took no notice of Nightwing's arrival into the fray. Which was fine, Nightwing was not here to fight. Huntress looked up and saw him as she bashed a man's face to the floor repeatedly.

"She's in the corner," said Helena savagely before returning to her beating. She was deciding which of her two remaining targets to take down next when a shot rang through the room. Seconds later Helena became aware that the bullet had grazed her arm, cutting her coat and shoulder.

She looked to the man just as he was aiming again and leapt landing on him savagely she took the pistol from him and slapped him hard against the face with it removing several of his teeth before discarding the gun to the floor. "Lesson one: never let your first shot be a flesh wound. It pisses people off.

She stood to face her last enemy. He looked at her with an expression that combined awe and fear in a way she had never seen before. He dropped his firearm to the floor in an attempt to spare himself the fate of his comrade. Huntress moved over to him and from the inside of her jacket retrieved a pair of steel cuffs and restrained him.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"Shut up," said Huntress giving him a swift punch to the face and throwing him to the ground.

She looked over to Zatanna, who seemed to be giving Brother Night a run for his money but both looked exhausted. Huntress watched and waited for Zatanna to wrap it up because she still wasn't finished.

After what seemed like an eternity Zatanna's hand reached out and grabbed Brother Night's face.

"On regnol rehtorB thgiN," screamed the magician. "Emoceb nodlE kceP ecno erom!"

That command resulted in what sounded like a huge crash of thunder from where the two stood as energy began swimming out of Brother Night. He fell to his knees yelling in anguish, but Huntress could tell that whatever Zatanna did he had no way of reversing. As he lost his powers Helena also so him loose much of his youth until the point that he merely looked like a slim, middle aged man with sallow skin and graying hair. He became man that posed no threat whatsoever. His eyes however stayed an enchanted shade of red that made Huntress feel ill at ease.

"Look's like we're done here, Huntress."

"No, I'm not," said Huntress savagely as she approached the man and grabbed him by his collar lifting him to his feet to stare into her eyes. "He needs to understand, that I don't care whether he's Eldon Peck or Brother Night."

Huntress elbowed him in the face and blood instantly began pouring out of his nose. She threw him several feet away from her only to walk over and press her boot down on his windpipe.

"He killed women, he tortured my friend," spat Huntress in a low deadly voice as she increased pressure. "That alone is enough to make want to kill you in the worse of ways. Don't you ever cross the path of the Huntress again, because the next time I see you I will."

Huntress lifted her foot off of him and fled from the room. Zatanna restrained the man before following.

"We're done here Oracle, send the police."

"I already placed the call in," said Oracle over the radio. "They should be there any minute."

Huntress and Zatanna stood on the rooftop across the street and watched as the police, fire department and medical teams arrived on the scene. From the roof Huntress saw Reese step out of his car and look around probably expecting to see her. She didn't feel much like talking to him at the moment.

A half an hour later Oracle, Huntress and Zatanna were reconvening at the Batcave. Dick had taken Dinah to the Memorial Clinic in Park Row to be under the care of the trusted physician Leslie Thompkins and to avoid the questions that would have been asked at the hospital. Though she had been through a lot Leslie was sure that Dinah would recover. However the full extent of the damage she didn't yet know. Dick had gone upstairs to let the three women finish up.

"Zatanna, thanks for your help." said Oracle. "We really couldn't have done this without you."

Zatanna gave a shrug of her shoulders. "My pleasure Oracle, it's always nice to have you owe me one for a change. But there is something else you want from me, right?"

Oracle didn't say anything at first. Bruce wouldn't approve. If he were in the cave with them they wouldn't even be having this discussion. But the situation was dire. It wasn't just one person in danger, it was many. It had already caused death to a civilian, and the knowledge she had... Oracle couldn't let her keep that knowledge.

"It's Harley Quinn, she knows who we are. Not just me and Helena, but even Alfred and Bruce. I'd like you to erase those memories."

Zatanna bit down on her lap.

"Batman wouldn't like that."

"No," Oracle agreed. "But Batman's not here. Even if he was there are some lines he understandably refuses to cross. Harley nearly destroyed the city, and she murdered countless others. We can't let her keep this information and wait for her to decide she wants to destroy Batman's legacy, or our future."

For a few minutes no one spoke. Zatanna for her part was as hesitant as she was the first time she was asked to do this. The last time she did wiped a person's mind it cost her Batman's trust and she had to work hard to just have a working relationship with him. She didn't think their friendship had any chance of being salvaged. However now, as then, she maintained that she was right in her decisions.

They were heroes who stopped criminals. The criminals they hunted forfeited their rights when chose their career paths. She looked to Oracle, their eyes meeting and she nodded.

"Your right," said Zatanna. "I can do this for you this one time, Oracle. But you do owe me big."

Barbara gave a small smile, "Don't worry, I'm good at returning favours."

"Huntress," Zatanna said to the vigilante who still looked a bit sullen. Zatanna reached out her hand offering a shake. "It's been fun. Maybe next time you can come up to Metropolis and check out some of the action."

Huntress returned the handshake, "Yeah, that'd be cool."

"I'll stop by Arkham on my way home and take care of it for you," said Zatanna giving a little wave to the two of them before vanishing in a cloud of smoke, the same way she had arrived.

"She's something else," said Helena. "Crazy tricks."

"Yeah, she does tend to JLA most of her action," Barbara agreed. "Let's head upstairs; Alfred is going to take us to the clinic to check in on Dinah."

Epilogue:

It was early March; the snow had finally melted from Gotham's streets. It had been a long winter that was turning into a humid spring. Nine weeks had passed since the night in the church and things for the Birds of Prey were finally beginning to resemble normalcy.

A construction crew from Wayne Enterprises finished the repairs to the Clocktower and security upgrades the previous week and Barbara and Dinah had returned to their lair. Barbara herself had spent the majority of that time not only installing her own security measures, but reinstalling her computers, which were removed prior to the tower's reconstruction. 

At the moment Barbara was in her monitor room, further upgrading her mainframe. She laid on the floor, most of her upper body hidden from view as she tinkered with unseen wires and devices, an array of tools surrounding her.

"Barbara, are you ready?" asked Dinah from the top floor looking down into the monitoring area before walking down.

"Almost." said Barbara from her place on the ground, though due to the presence of pliers in her mouth it came out as "Ahmrosth."

Dinah crouched down to be face level with her mentor.

"Barbara, it starts at ten and it's already nine twenty. Also, you're on the ground in your good clothes."

Barbara poked her head out from under her new set up and her eyes met Dinah's. The teenager was looking much better. In fact unless one had already known there would have been no obvious signs that she had nearly been tortured to death. Barbara, however, noticed that despite the rather warm weather Dinah still choose to wear long sleeves Barbara assumed due to her wrists still being a deep and splotchy purple hue. She also didn't move with the bounce in her step that she once did, Barbara assumed due to her blunt abdominal trauma. Perhaps the worst of it was unseen; the girl suffered multiple petechial hemorrhages during her assault by Brother Night and as a result her psionic abilities had been subdued. While she still contained a metagene she no longer had what one would call superpowers. So far she had seemed to be taking it well, and had recently began her training sessions with both Oracle and Huntress.

"Dinah, no one is going to be looking at me when we're there," said Barbara after she removed the pliers from her mouth.

"Dick might, if he's watching the news and the camera catches you." she said with a smirk causing Barbara to roll her eyes. "What are you installing anyway?"

"Everything," said Barbara said in a rather pleased voice. "Those guys from Wayne Enterprises didn't do nearly enough. Passive infrared detectors and inertia sensors. Flawed technology at best. When I'm done we'll have everything from a dedicated passive magnetic field detection system and indoor microwave detectors to a full system lockdown. Even my mainframe will be impenetrable."

Dinah gave a nod of her head as if she understood. She hadn't, but didn't really need Barbara to go into more details. As long as she was happy with her advancements, Dinah was cool.

"Great," said Dinah in a not completely sincere tone. "Well, how about you wrap this up and we get a move on."

Barbara however was already dusting herself off before lifting herself back into her chair. "Right, well, it's best not to keep justice waiting."

"By justice you mean your Dad?" questioned Dinah as the two headed to the elevator.

"Damn right," said Barbara proudly.

Due in part to Barbara's rather reckless driving they arrived to one of New Gotham's many courthouses, one of the smaller one's had been chosen for that day in hopes that it might keep crowds down. The plan hadn't succeeded, as Barbara lifted herself from the driver's seat into her chair and shut the door she saw many people, police, civilians and reporters alike. The civilians looked overheated and were showing it, and Barbara couldn't understand why they wouldn't just watch the news. The police looked hot and were apparently in no mood to deal with the civilians or the reporters and the reporters though, undoubtedly hot in their trim suits and ties wouldn't have let on this is how they felt.

As she always did she scanned the crowd. She saw Detective Reese standing off to the side from the scene with Helena next to him as they spoke privately. Her father however stood near the human barricade that kept most of the civilians from entering the building. She and Dinah made their way past a man from the Gotham News Network, Barbara hadn't respected the man as a reporter in a very long time, but the city continued to love him.

"This is Arturo Rodriguez reporting from the Old Gotham Courthouse in the Western Quadrant where today trial starts for Albert Hawke, accused to be the infamous Godfather of the Hawke Crime Family. One of the more recent crime families in Gotham, the Hawke family has worked at making a name for themselves in the past fifteen years. Today the prosecution represented by Kate Spencer and backed by Damon Matthews, will begin stating their case."

The police barred the two women's path only for moments before the Commissioner waved them through, walking up to Barbara and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm glad you two could make it," he said gruffly, offering Dinah and handshake which she took.

"You knew we could make it Dad," Barbara said patiently. "This has been in the works for months."

Jim Gordon ignored his daughter's lack of subtlty and instead placed a hand on her should before looking at Dinah.

"Ms. Lance, we're still in the preliminaries of the case so you won't have to speak publically. "Though, Ms. Spencer would like to have some time to talk to you after this."

"Not a problem," said Dinah firmly. She had been waiting for this day for a long time. 

Just as the Commissioner was getting ready to speak the crowd around them grew much louder as a car pulled up to the building and security grew even tighter. "You two should go inside, make yourselves comfortable."

He walked away from them but neither Barbara nor Dinah moved. Dinah for her part wanted to see him and Barbara understood this and chose to wait with her. Barbara's gaze met Helena's from across the way and the two of them followed Dinah's line of sight as Albert Hawke stepped out from the back of a car escorted by two officers and one lawyer out of the many that compromised his defence team.

The crowd grew even louder as the reporters started shouting questions. His lawyer loudly informing them that there would be no comments from Mr. Hawke made no difference as the group made their ways to the doors.

Hawke stopped next to Dinah and stared at her. If his eyes looked cold and infuriated but that was nothing compared to the rage that seemed to radiate from the teenager.

"I'll get off, you know," he said in a way that made the sentence sound very much like a threat.

Barbara took Dinah's hand in her own to reassure the girl, but before either woman could respond a bang rang out like thunder, silencing the crowd instantly. A splash of crimson covered Dinah as the Godfather's body fell forward and she out of instant caught it for a moment before letting it fall to the ground. All was silent for a few seconds before the noise rose like a swarm of bees covering the area getting louder and louder. Dinah moved away from the scene and Barbara met Helena's eyes again for the second time, Helena nodding before giving a brief good bye to the stunned Detective she had arrived with heading towards the parking lot.

Barbara gave a sigh as she looked down at her shirt, the blood from the fallen spreading across her white blouse. No, there would be no normal for her. Not for long time.


End file.
